This is important and you can help.
There is at present a public call in France for comments on a proposed reference set that would guarantee interoperability for documents throughout the government. [0] The idea here as elsewhere is to promote open standards and stop the waste proprietary formats impose. The OpenDocument format (ODF), which is now slated to be an ISO standard and is already an OASIS standard, has been proposed as the document standard by the French body. [1] But it is by *no means* a sure thing.
How can you help?
By commenting in the public space provided and by writing about it in blogs, articles, letters--anywhere that is public. We need people who are involved in promoting the ODF, which OpenOffice.org uses, to help publicize the importance of the French public sector using an already approved open standard like ODF and the free (gratis and open source) implementation in which it is embedded, OpenOffice.org. Massachusetts' decision to use ODF has galvanized the US and much of the world but in many ways this is just as important--and consequences even greater.
It is important because an open standard--one approved by impartial bodies and also implemented by many applications--removes vendor lock in and gives the user real freedom.
And it is further important to consider that the ODF is natively supported by at least one suite, OpenOffice.org: cost is no barrier to its use.
[0] http://www.adae.gouv.fr/article.php3?id_article=1064
[1] http://tinyurl.com/jsagd
You want: Référentiel général Interopérabilité Volet Technique in pdf on the right
-> http://tinyurl.com/hg8yc
The document is in French. On page 30, you have the rules referenced RIT0025, RIT0026, RIT0027
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Louis Suarez-Potts
Community Manager
OpenOffice.org
